i think it's important we talk about this. if you look at the grade levels in our schools and high schools and colleges across this country, you'll find in the last 20 years the grade levels have not gotten better. the quality of education has not gotten better. but if you look the chart and see how much we're spening through the department of education at the federal level you'll find that we're spending billions and billions and billions of dollars and not accomplishing a thing except paying a lot of bureaucrats' salaries an sending money back to some of the unions that feel like they need that money to take care of their union members and those union members continue to support people who want to keep that greave train going. so there are things we can do. we can say let's leave education where it belongs at the state and local level where it's always been instead of spending all this money at the local level, do away with the department of education, we could do that and save hundreds of billions of dollars. and that money can be past on

to debt reduction and lower our dependence on the future -- future generations of this country. i'd like to just end tonight, mr. speaker, by saying that if you look at these charts you'll see first of all we have unbelievable, trillions, trillions of cubic feet of natural gas in the united states. all these pink spaces show where shale gas is in the lower 48 states and it doesn't even include alaska, and those trillions of cubic feet of natural gas could be brought out of the ground and used to take care of our energy needs to a very large degree. as a matter of fact, the coal shale -- let's put that chart up there -- the coal chail that we have, they. -- shale that we have, they estimate it would create 1.8 trillion to eight trillion barrels of oil right here in this country and it would

immediately reduce our dependency on foreign oil. and you think the saudis and others wouldn't lower their price per barrel very quickly if they thought we were producing that you're just not paying attention. if they thought we were becoming energy independent they would want to keep their market share and lower their prices as quickly as possible. and then you talk about coal itself. we have tremendous resources of coal. 584.5 billion tons our reserves in coal, the blue places you see on the map is four trillion tons of coal. now, they say that will hurt the environment. well, we got to make sure we protect the environment and we got scrubbers on the generating plants and all kinds of things that do protect the environment. even if we had an environmental problem we would still work to clean that up. but even if we had that, do we still want to be dependent for our existence, for the defense of this nation, for the economy

of this nation on foreign sources of energy like saudi arabia and venezuela and others that don't like us and would love to see us go down, go under? we need to use our resources, and the president is succumbing to pressure from radical environmentlists and others to not drill for these resources, natural gas, coal shale that can be converted, onshore, offshore. it's time we realize that we can be energy independent. the future of america can be great. we can see this city as ronald reagan said it 20, 30, 40 years is a shining city on a hill if we move toward energy independence, that one thing alone would help solve our problems, our economic problems, and it's a defense issue as well as a national economic issue. so like i said, if i were talking to the president tonight and i presume from time

to time the white house does watch what we're doing on the floor, i would say, mr. president, if you love this country, and i believe you do, i would start doing what's necessary to move toward energy independence. and you will be revered as a great president if you do that, and you'll probably get re-elected. but if we continue with this huge deficit spending that in large part is caused by our dependence on foreign oil, then you run the risk of being a one-term president. so i think the president, being a patriotic citizen as i believe and hope he is, will take to heart what we're talking about in this body and become as close as possible to energy independence within the next three, four, five, six, eight, 10 years. and if he would do this his legacy that will be left behind will be something we will all be proud of. if we don't do that, and i were talking to the president, i will say your legacy won't be very bright, mr. president, and i don't think any president wants to leave behind for

history that kind of a legacy. and with that, mr. speaker, i'll just say that i hope that everybody's paid attention to this tonight and i will be back on the floor to talk about this in the future. and i yield back the balance of my time -- oh, wait just a minute. excuse me. what is it that we have? who's coming? louie gohmert going so you want to extend my special order so louie can get here? and what does louie need? well, we have another colleague that wants to come over so i am not going to do my imitation of a tap dance, but i guess i can talk about the deficit for a little longer. i was going to use that for the next special order. let me have that.

well, let's give you some facts and figures while louie was on his way over here. i was going to save this for my next special order. the total demand for coal reached 1.12 billion tons in 2008 and over half of our electricity is generated from coal. so you can imagine if we don't drill -- don't do what's necessary to get coal out of the ground we are going to become more dependent on foreign sources of energy. nine out of every 10 tons of coal mined in the year -- in every year in the u.s. is used for domestic electricity. so when they tell you we can't use coal any more because of environmental concerns, well, what are we going to do, because nine out of every 10 tons of coal that's used for electric generation. each person in this country and everybody that's paying attention uses 3.7 tons of coal a year.

so what are we going to do without it if we don't have it? coal is the most affordable source of power fuel per million b.t.u.'s historically, averaging a quarter of the price of gas and oil. and there are approximately 600 coal generating facilities generating 1.4 generating units in manufacturing utilities across this country, according to the u.s. energy information. coal accounts for 62% of total energy and 32% of total energy consumption. that's all i want to talk about coal about. but it's important that we realize that we are dependent on that source of energy and we need to continue to use it until we come up with an alternative that's going to work and will be with us. and solar and wind and other sources will replace that over time. but we're still going to need oil and coal and gas for at least 15, 20 years at the

levels or more at the levels we're using today. ok. let's see what else we have here. is that all you have for me, brian? that's it? ok. louie is sprinting over here, mr. speaker. he's on his way. i have 32 minutes left and i could talk about anything, i guess. i don't want to bore my colleagues back in their offices or anybody else that's paying attention to this other than to say this chart we have here is something that people ought to be familiar with. i will be happy to make them available to my colleagues. it shows we have plenty of oil, coal and natural gas and coal shale to take care of our energy needs within the next decade if we just get on with it. this is embarrassing. where is louie?

where's chris smith? is chris coming over? i will stand here for a minute, mr. speaker, and i'll reserve my time until he gets here. he's got his own time? because we don't have somebody on the other side coming in because everybody's gone. well, let me tell you one thing that's very interesting, everybody's gone home. everybody is going back to their districts and it's kind of interesting that these issues that we're talking about here tonight are so important and yet people are going back to their districts to talk to their constituents. i wish i had been able to talk to them before they left and give them copies of all these illustrations so that they could go to their town meetings

and show to the people of this country that we do have the energy we need to be independent, and i will try to do that next week next time we have a recess and they go back to their districts for their town meetings. do you know any good songs? i could do my imitation of al jolson is. do you know? i know people in the gallery know who al jolson was? bear with us, folks. we're waiting on a little -- the rules of the house, for those who are wondering why i'm standing down here, the rules of the house are when we -- when we adjourn at night we have what's called special orders and when we have special orders each side gets one hour and i'm taking the leadership hour on the republican side. each side gets one hour to discuss issues of relevance to

the american people and to their colleagues. and then after that each side gets half an hour. and we go back and forth like that. so we've used up six hours of time -- four hours -- four hours of time. and so my colleague, mr. gohmert, who is on his way over here right now, is going to use, i presume, part of our second half-hour when he gets here. and i imagine louie is going to be talking about constitutional law because he was a judge. and he'll also be talking about the national debt and the legacy we're leaving behind for our kids. and so when louie gets here, after i hit him in the nose for not being here on time, i'll turn it over to him and let him talk about these issues. what are you laughing at? we have the staff up here, and i think they're getting a little giggley since we are here not talking about anything of relevance.

where is louie coming from? the moon. we got the press up there that's being entertained. huh? oh, it's st. patrick's day. you don't think he's having a little dream -- do you? well, i guess i should digress and talk about some of the other issues facing this country. there are so many. but i don't want to get started on that and then have louie come in and have to stop my discussion. right in the middle of our talk.

you need to write about this in the paper, folks. well, there's a new movie out. you know, last night they had an irish american function in the capitol and they had some of the irish dancers that were

extraordinary. i was watching television this morning and had michael flatly on and has a new movie out today about the irish dancers, and i would urge all of my friends and neighbors to go see that movie if they like irish dancing. and, folks, i want to say that doctor, judge, louie gohmert with his green tie has just arrived. louie, what are you going to talk about tonight? mr. gohmert: appreciate the gentleman yielding. we are going to talk some about the c.r. we are going to talk some about government spending and what we ought to be doing. mr. burton: well, there you have it, folks. i was psychic. i told you he was going to talk about government spending and how we need to get control of this budget. louie, since you are a great friend and a former judge from texas -- oh, you're not ready yet? mr. gohmert: i think the gentleman will need to yield back otherwise he'll have to

stay on the floor the whole time. mr. burton: louie, i know the rules. are you ready? mr. gohmert: i'm ready. mr. burton: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, for 30 minutes. . mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm grateful to my colleague, mr. burton. he is a patriotic american and stands for what he believes in and if we had more dan burtons in washington, the country would be that much better off. so we are grateful to him and his service. it is an honor to serve in this body. it's been rather frustrating lately. and one of the things i wanted to mention is that another good friend, former fellow judge as i

was, a district judge -- i lost credibility believed when i became chief justice of the court of appeals, but my friend, ted poe, from houston, is pushing a bill i'm glad to co-sponsor with him and glad he is doing it. it goes hand in hand with a bill i have been pushing ever since i have been here, but congressman poe's bill would allow an up or down vote on all the different countries with whom we provide foreign assistance. it's a good idea. i mean for all the years that i have been here and each congress, three times, we have filed a u.n. accountability bill

and my friend, ted poe, is co-sponsoring with us and i'm glad to support his bill. my bill says any country that votes against us more than half the time gets no foreign assistance the following year. we know when there are emergencies and things we need to do, and so there is an exception to that, in the event of an international emergency, but otherwise, we're not going to tell foreign countries how they vote in the u.n., but you can tell a lot about who is your friend and who isn't by who stands with you during difficult times and on difficult issues. and you are able to discern who has the same moral beliefs as you do. for example, there are countries where that sharia law is the

rule of the land and life does not have the value that we in america believe that god gave life to have. so it's ok, in fact you can find your way to paradise, some believe, and not all muslims believe this, but there are those who believe that you can find your way to paradise and differing number of virgins waiting for you if you die while you're killing infidels, people that don't believe in the same things you do. well, that's fine. but if you believe in torturing, killing, taking innocent lives for nothing, or just because of someone's religious beliefs, then we should not be financing

that. deeply troubling to see that in egypt, one account said that president or king, whatever you want to call him, mubarak, had $70 million in the bank, another said $7 billion, either way, can't help but wonder if that couldn't be a whole lot of u.s. taxpayers' dollars back when we weren't having to borrow to give away money like that as we are now. we were giving $2 billion or so a year and it wouldn't be surprising if most of that money were united states dollars that had been given to egypt. on the other hand, we know that there are despots, there are dictators, there are correct leaders of countries around the

world who believe that it's fine to even force women to have abortion, as my friend and i both believe abortions is inappropriate, it's wrong. it's taking innocent life. and yet, we are handing money out around the world, hand over fist and people take innocent lives, unborn, others. there was to be a hanging of a man who converted from islam to christianity over in afghanistan and we are pouring money into the karzai regime. issues about him and his brother whether or not there is corruption. we are pouring money in there that we don't have. and we are paying 40 cents, 42 crepts of every dollar that we are giving to someone else for loans because we don't have the money to do that.

and in any event, my friend, chris smith is here, and would be happy to yield such time -- i would yield such time as he may consume. mr. smith: i thank my very good friend and colleague for yielding and i do raise my voice today and i join my friend from texas and others in a bit of a celebration, although it needs to be a cautious celebration because the tyranny on cuba continues, but the bravest and brightest human rights defenders on earth was released on march 12 from a cuban president where he endured eight years of torture for his human rights work. it was his second long-term,

totally unjustified incarceration by cuba, totaling 12 years in prison. according to his wife, he was arrested at least 27 times and jailed for short periods of time between 1998 and 1999 alone, yet he persisted and has a will that continues to this day. his release and that of other prisoners of conscience was negotiated and announced by the archbishop of havana. i had the honor and privilege to speak by phone to him, who is still in cuba and he conveyed and i conveyed, i should say our collective respect, admiration and abiding concern for his well-being and for his wife. he said during the conversation, that she was pleasantly shocked and very happy to have him home.

i let him know that he and his amazing work was and never will be forgotten. awarded the medal of freedom by president bush, he suffered castro's ghoul ag in order to -- gulag. and in our phone conversation, he insisted that freedom will and must be procured only through peaceful means and of course that work is far from finished. he said that faith in god was paramount and prayer, quote, is of utmost importance. he is truly a man of god. he told me that the truth about what castro has done to his people and continues to do must reach, his words, the truth must reach the cuban people and were

you tortured i asked him. he said, yes. yes. and his multip am health conditions that -- multiwill health conditions that must be addressed are testimony to the cruel mistreatment he suffered. he told me in prison he had to eat rise that was laced with worms. he endured solitary confinement with a mentally ill person and survived a knife and had burns on his body from an exhaust pipe that emptied in his cell. they took him for shock therapy at a mental institution. none of it worked and by the grace of god, he has per see verdict with unparled bravery.

the only country which ranked lower on the freedom scale than cuba was the nightmare gulag of north korea but the cuban tyrrants remain romantic heroes in the united states including some members of this congress who in 2009 visited cuba and gushed with admiration for the dictators showing no compassion for the pain their courting and enabling of castro gave to those suffering under his dictatorship. the same spirit and mates the so-called ladies in white, the wives and relatives of prisoners like the doctor, who attend mass each week and march in the streets each week. cuban police have detained and beaten these women for peaceful

protests. unless anyone construe the doctor's release as the harbinger for respect of human rights in cuba, consider this. amnesty international published an alert that noted that quote, the repression of cuban dissidents persist. i will put the entire statement in. but they point out there are numerous activists, men and women speaking out for human rights who are being rounded up, put under house arrest and some held in detention. they pointed out on february 23, one-year anniversary of a great man, according to the cuban commission on human rights, they placed 50 people under house arrest before freeing them and the president of the cuban youth movement was arrested after

organizing a meeting in his own home. dr. will hopefully reseff the nobel peace prize. we have orchestrased and asking the body that give out that peace prize and consider the doctor and the other cuban dissidents for that prize. they put the peace prize on the empty chair. the doctor is out of prison and would be great uplifting for the people of cuba and i thank my friend for yielding. mr. gohmert: i thank my friend from new jersey, chris midst. you are a leader -- chris smith, you are a leader and man of conviction who cares deeply about those who have suffered

for no good reason and standing for freedom. and you are a true patriot and it's an honor to serve with you. i don't know if you are aware but in the discussion about all the foreign aid to countries who do not have the same abiding love and desire for freedom for all people and the same value of human life, i don't know if my friend is aware of the fact that in 2008, i don't know the 2009 or 2010 numbers, but this country provided $45,330,000 in aid to cuba. and you can't help but wonder over the years, like with dr. bissett how much american money

might have ever been used to help restrain heroes of this whole earth that should have been praised and appreciated and yet we're giving money to brutal dictators who treat the best that humanity has to offer in this manner. gentleman have some thoughts? mr. smith: the gentleman from texas has an sleent point. when you -- excellent point. when you provide a lifeline to dictatorships, it enables them to continue their repression. and years ago we took a stance against south africa because of that abomination known as apartheid and when the world united and said no more, it did lead an end to that regime. cuba and china would fall into this category, but cuba, has had trade with canada and with the

european countries in the european union and there has been no matriculation. in many cases, they have gotten worse, clearly underscoring when a brutal dictatorship is given money, they will continue their present press i have ways and i asked the doctor this last night about lifting the travel ban and the trade embargo which the obama administration is seeking to do, and he said don't do it unless there are conditions, human rights, democracy, free and fair elections. otherwise, the secret police, the neighborhood block committees and those who repress every single person in cuba especially those whoes pause freedom, democracy and human rights is given additional

power. the cuban government runs everything. so when you lift the trade embargo, when you have people traveling to cuba, bringing hard currency, you throw a lifeline. better condition all of it to human rights conditions. again, had it worked, if that was the answer, as he said, in the conversation last night, having a travel ability from canada and trade and from the european countries, we would have seen a change towards democracy. it has not happened and has gotten worse. . i appreciate you bringing up a very good point. mr. gohmert: what an anomaly of a country believing in human life and human value and yet at the same time we demean it whether it's giving money to entities that take unborn lives

or whether it's giving money to brutal dictators who certainly don't believe in freedom of religion but are willing to take the lives of people because of their religion or who repressively say we told you could have one child so we are going to kill your other children. it's just a mind-boggling thing, as bo pilgrim used to say, it's mind-boggling. how do we think we're helping the world when we give massive amounts of money to people that are the very an tit cisof the things that -- and -- anthesis of the things that we love and cherish? i yield to my friend. mr. smith: on may 26, 1994,

bill clinton severed most countries. he said unless there's significant progress in human rights we are going to condition our trading relationship and we will only look at performance. he shredded his executive order. we had the votes to take away m.s.n. that year which dissipated over time. i met with the human rights groups. i even went to china and realized we were talking out of both sides of our mouth like -- and the foreign ministry in bay sheeng saying we are getting most favored nation status. we don't care what you think about human rights. fast forward a few weeks ago when the unelected president of china visited with president obama of not a single public

statement on human rights, so badly was it when there was a press conference with him and president obama at the white house that they said, well, they have a different culture and they have a different political system. that with as an outrageous statement that tens of thousands of people are in the gulag system suffering for peace and religious freedom and it's to say the chinese people don't get it, they don't understand human rights. they sure do and they want it. ask harry wu, all the great human rights defenders, many of whom spent years in the gulag system. it was so bad that "the washington post" did an editorial and said president obama defends hu, h-u, hu

jintao and here it is, president obama, 2009, nobel peace-prize winner. the 2010 nobel peace-prize winner and hu jintao and not a single world about about it and in china -- because i went on "people's daily," i read it daily, filled of accolades about a dictator. it demoralizes people in the gue lags, just like the president is demoralizing those suffering in the gulags all over the world, including -- in cuba. so the gentleman is actually right.

we need to be very serious, you know, and use -- my wife and family who were suffering, would we just then look at scams and embrace these dictators? i would hope not. thanks for yielding. mr. gohmert: i appreciate the gentleman's insight. but unfortunately based on our modern history in this country the indications are if you are being tore turd and held in prison it doesn't appear this government would do anything differently than what we've been doing. those that suffered in gulag, who have been later released and when we hear those held in poland or in the russian gulags or chinese or cuban, for example, when ronald reagan said this an evil empire, what

we have heard in more recent years is that gave us hope. somebody was willing to stand up and call it what it was. and at the time that kept them going. and our colleague here in the house, sam johnson, when he was a p.o.w. for seven years in north vietnam being tore turd -- tortured daily, one of the most difficult things to endure was the information that our country did not care. it's heartbreaking to think about our friends who were suffering in horrible prison conditions and we gave -- not only gave the impression that we didn't care, we had people running around blaming those very people for their own troubles when all they were trying to do was keep horrible,

repressive regimes from taking over and killing millions as they did when we left. and so one of the great atributes was -- of reagan was he called things like he saw them, and it gave hope to the world. and i don't know if my friend from new jersey is -- heard me mention this, but last year around easter i was in west africa and met with some of the west africans who were christians and the oldest said he wanted to make sure that i knew that they were so excited when we elected an african-american president. that was thrilling to them. until they began to see that his policies were weakening america and this elderly, wonderful, wise gentleman with others in agreement said, you got to make sure that people in washington understand if you

keep becoming weaker we lose hope in this life. we know where our hope is in the next life. but as far as our hope for having a peaceful life in this world, it will be gone when you become too weak. please tell your friends in washington, do not let america grow any weaker. and here we overspend, we give moneys to countries who hate us, who hate the things we stand for, who hate the fact that we believe in freedom because they believe freedom leads to debotchry. and they believe they should have some dictator, somebody that tells you everything you can do and everything you can't do. they believe freedom corrupts whereas we know in our hearts it's in our constitution, it's in our declaration of independence, god gave us freedom to make choices.

and it is one of the greatest things that america's done that i think has helped cause this nation to be blessed. we stood for those freedoms. not just for america. there's no country in the history of the world that has ever given treasure and life of america -- of that country's people to get freedom for other countries, other people of whom we ask nothing in return. that is unheard of in the history of the world, and yet this nation has done it over and over. we've done it to help protect muslims and give them freedom of choice, christians, buddhists. it did not matter. it was all about human rights, human dignity and human freedom. and we see that slipping away every time we prop up some brutal dictator, every time we

look the other way and pat cruel, evil people on the back and say, oh, we're so proud of you, we're glad to be your friend when those, like those repressed by cuba say please, don't give more credibility to the oppressors. i yield to my friend for his final thoughts. mr. smith: i think you just made an articulate defense of why a consistent, transparent human right, pro-freedom, pro-democracy foreign policy is absolutely essential if we want a world that is free of tyranny. one said if you want peace work for justice. then he said if you want justice work on behalf of the disenfranchised unborn child which i feel is a very good connection of human rights from womb to tomb. but you made an excellent point about ronald reagan. yesterday, the great dissident

and frank wolf and i got into the prison camp, camp 35 where he spent so many horrible days and nights in the punishment cell. we were there in the late 1980's. right after he got out and, remember, he didn't walk in the straight line when the k.g.b. say you walk straight across, he zig-zagged. the final defiance of the k.g.b. he brought out what you said, judge gohmert, when ronald reagan talked about the evil empire, he said it again yesterday, they knew that we got it, that there was hope and it gave him hope. it gave the other political dissidents hope. jewish, christians, whatever their denomination or religious beliefs, america understands being hurt, failure of communism, and he had hope.

sheng, the father of the democracy movement in china, a great leader, he told me when they let him out to get olympics 2000 and the olympics committee didn't give it to them because they were such violators of human rights and unfortunately they capitulated some years later, he said when you enable, when you pander to dictatorship, including the chinese dictatorship, they beat us more in prison. but when you're tough, transparent, you look the dictator in the eye and say we're not kidding. we want these people released, they beat us less. that's from a man who spent 20 years in the chinese gulag. all have said the same thing. so when president obama was in front of hu jintao, it was a

shameless sacrifice of human rights. they beat the dissidents more. they will tell us, america has abandoned you. thankfully in a bipartisan way because when hu jintao it was our speaker, speaker boehner who raised human rights and raised the -- one child per couple policy, the missing girls. 100 missing girls in china. the result of a one child per couple policy where brothers and sisters are illegal and over the course of 30 years since 1979 when that horrific policy, the worst crime against women ever went into effect, they have systematically exterminated the girl child and now many of them are not here. 40 million men won't find wives by 2020 in china because they have been forciblely aborted. huge gender disparity which raises problem about potential of war. it talks about this restless

male population can't ever get married because there's nothing there. and human trafficking can occur. i think the president -- frank wolf and i met with pong who was premere. we looked him right in the eye. almost no one ever did it. president bush did it. he raised religious freedom robustly with the chinese government. ms. clinton said i am not going to let human rights, quote, interfere with global climate change, issues and the issue of debt. so it really is a very serious abandonment of the people who will need it most, who will be the next harry wu's. you bring up an interesting point. i thank you for your leadership on human rights and the peace agenda which is really the freedom agenda. mr. gohmert: it certainly is an

honor to serve with you and i hope -- i don't know if you are aware, our friend, ted poe, our colleague has a bill that's trying to force all foreign aid to come to a vote country by country. . and isn't that wonderful? i look forward to that in time to come. mr. speaker, is my time expiring? the speaker pro tempore: your time has expired. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. we appreciate the time to discuss this very important issue and especially now that money is so critically needed and we should not be wasting it to help those who repress others. with that, we yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the chair

recognizes the gentleman from mississippi, mr. nunnelee, for 30 minutes. mr. nunnelee: thank you, mr. speaker. it's time for the united states senate to act. the democrats in the united states senate, the democrat leadership in the united states senate have failed the american people. last year, when the democrats controlled the house of representatives, the senate, and the white house, their leadership failed to adopt a budget. in fact, for the first time since adopting the budget act of 1974, the house of representatives failed to pass a budget. nancy pelosi and harry reid left our country in a mess. today, we are operating without a long-term spending plan.

it must stop. earlier this year, a new majority came into the house of representatives. and under the leadership of john boehner, this new majority adopted a long-term spending plan that would outline the priorities of our government throughout september 30 of this year. in this very chamber, we stayed up late at night for four nights in a row. we debated and we hammered out a long-term spending plan. that plan included the largest cut in spending in american history, we defunded planned parenthood and defunded npr and defunded obamacare. we placed significant restraints on regulatory agencies that have gone out of control, such as the

e.p.a. and then the bill moved down to the senate. and the senate has failed to act . since then, in order to give them more time, we granted two budget extensions, one for two weeks and earlier this week, we extended it for three more weeks. but included in those budget extensions were $10 billion worth of spending cuts. while we have offered those temporary extensions, the permanent plan that has passed this chamber still languishes in the senate. the leadership of that body has not passed our spending plan or for that matter, any spending plan. we're waiting. but more importantly, the american people are waiting. we cannot negotiate with

silence. if they don't like our spending plan, then let them put forth one of their own, but it's time for the senate to act. these temporary extensions are no way to run a business and they are no way to run our country. earlier this week, our negotiators asked for three more weeks. since we have only been in office for a little over 10 weeks, i thought it wise to grant that extension and i voted for it. here, the house has been doing the work of the american people. we passed h.r. 2, the bill that repeals obamacare. we defunded obamacare in its entirety, including the 1 -- $105 billion of pre-approved spending. we shouldn't stop until obamacare is completely defunded. the house is working on legislation that will eliminate

that mandatory slush fund and i hope we'll vote on that in the upcoming weeks. but it's time for the senate to act. america wants real spending reform so that we can give businesses large and small the confidence they need, the predictability they need and go about the business of creating jobs that will grow our economy. it's time for the white house and the senate to listen. house republicans can only do so much. we only have control of one half of one-third of the government. and so we cannot act by ourselves. it's past time for the senate to act. over the next three weeks, we'll be waiting and we'll be watching to negotiate a long-term

solution that will get us out of this mess that they left us in when they concluded last year. thank you, mr. president. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. nunnelee: i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today on a motion offered pursuant to this order, it adjourn to meet at 10:00 a.m. on friday, march 18, 2011, unless it has received a message from the senate transmitting its concurrence in house resolution 30, in which case the house shall stand adjourned pursuant to that concurrent resolution. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from mississippi. mr. nunnelee: mr. speaker, pursuant to the order of the house of today, i move that the

house now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. and the motion is agreed to. accordingly, pursuant to the previous order of the house today, the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on friday march 18, 2011, unless it sooner has received a message from the senate transmitting its adoption of the house concurrent resolution 30 in which case the house shall stand adjourned pursuant to >> today, members voted 228-192 to prohibit federal funds for public radio and blocked the use of funds to purchase radio programming radionpr -- from npr

or other providers. congressman dennis q. sandage also introduced a powers resolution calling for all operations in afghanistan to and -- dennis kucinich. the house has completed legislation and will be in recess until march 28. >> the house and senate are working this week on another short-term funding measure passed -- and last through april 8. -- atat you're affected elected officials say. this weekend, on the road to the white house, likely gop presidential candidate on the economy, the spiraling downward of america, and whether to run

for the republican nomination. >> i have put my toes in the water, it is now up to my neck. tens of thousands who are willing to volunteer. >> this sunday. we provide coverage of politics and american history. it is available on television, on-line, and social media networking site. and find our content any time on the video library. we take c-span on the road, bringing resources to your community. washington your way. c-span that works available in 100 million homes. >> next, an update on the evacuation of american citizens in response to the japanese nuclear plant crisis.

the state department is arranging voluntary evacuations for family members in u.s. government officials near the nuclear plant. there also are urging u.s. citizens to defer traveling to japan. we will hear from patrick kennedy at a deputy assistant secretary for overseas citizens service, james petit. this is 35 minutes. >> happy st. patrick's day. let's get right to business. we are fortunate to have with us today, individuals that can help address your questions about recent developments in japan regarding american citizens. the voluntary departure order that went out last night, i know it kept some of you up late. we have someone back and also address the ongoing efforts to help american citizens in the

affected areas. patrick kennedy and jim mpetit -- jim petit are here to answer your questions. we will go right to your questions. >> questions, anyone? >> when you implement it -- update offset some of the implementation of the measures you talked about last night? and the effort to evacuate americans that are in a 50-mile radius around the nuclear plant. there is a reasoning for authorized departure. is it because of the radiation concerns or the broader picture? >> we put in one flight today, at it left about four hours ago. it hit was on route into the

flight did not leave full. we have the management personnel at the airport and directing sweeping american citizens that we could find [unintelligible] the second question was about the -- if you want to address this order, it is specifically the radiation. i am not an expert. a degree of high school physics does not address me -- give me ability to address this situation in any depth. information that is coming to us from the department of energy

and the nuclear regulatory commission. we will discuss with them and listen to their guidance we operate to a degree, a matter of caution. we will simply tell american citizens the information that we have had. and leave it to american citizens to make an informed choice on the basis of the information. >> do you have an update? >> we put out lots and lots of information. there is informational the web site telling them to contact us if they need assistance.

there are, or have been, a large pocket of sam -- american citizens that have been stuck north of the site of the reactors in the sendai area. those those individuals have not been able to move south to tokyo because of the absence of transportation. and they have not been able to move north towards the northern tip because of absence of transportation and severe damage to the roads. the consular affairs people in tokyo have organized and dispatched earlier this evening tokyo time 14 busees, which is a capacity are around 600, which

we believe relates to the number of people to have contacted us plus a little extra for comfort. those bosses are -- those buses are en route. we will load the buses. and dispatch them back down to tokyo. they cannot move north. gore around the area of the radioactivity and down to tokyo, where there will be met by other consular officers. and offer transport of of the country. commercial transportation, regular scheduled flights, are still available. so if someone wants to go somewhere, they can make their own arrangements. we are not forcing them to go anywhere, but we will tell them that we have a flight. our next charter flight is going

from tokyo to point "a," wherever that happens to be. it may avail themselves of that. >> isn't sendai in that radioactive zone? it is 35 miles from the reactor. >> we are going around. ignoring the ocean's half-moon curve. we can go round the edge to come back down. >> the flight today, how many people were on board? >> just under 100. u.s. government family members and a small number of private american citizens. the destination happened to be tapei. when we look for aircraft, it is convenient to find out where the

aircraft's home base it, fly it in, and return to that location. if it is a location where there is regular commercial transportation. fomrom tapei , they will be met by personnel. pointed to hotels. told how to take commercial tickets. >> the zone for the radioactivity? >> 50 miles. which was what was in the notification the embassy put out the other day. >> on the people in the buses, north of sendai. when they are arrives, will there be some sort of testing to see if they have any exposure to radiation? >> that is not in our program.

>> the u.s. government will not provide the testing. >> no. >> this morning, the pentagon announced it will begin evaluating, a voluntary departure for family members-- an evacuation. it encompasses the entire main island. >> no. i have not seen the material yhuri sure to -- you refer to. the authorized departure is tokyo, the american consul, west of tokyo, and the state department's foreign service line or school -- are japanese language second year training institute. as of yesterday, their area, where they are paralleling

us. >> not true. they are starting at an outer island. aren't they relying on your planes? >> no. we have offered to support them. they have offered to support us. it is a mutual assistance operation, which we have. questions about the details of how the military are doing should be addressed to the pentagon. >> my question was actually more, since the pentagon, the dod, is authorizing departures for all family members on the entire main island of japan. so my question is, actually, is the state department considering expanding -- ? >> no, at this time. as we explained yesterday, and the secretary did a much better job, we made a decision on the

basis of the , information provided to us by other u.s. government experts . at the moment, we see no reason to extend the area on the basis of the information we have today. >> do you have any information about americans and that may be remaining within the 50 mile radius evacuation zone? >> custis explain in my role. -- just to explain my role. the undersecretary kennedy has been shouldering a lot of the burden in terms of the logistical operations. my task force is a consular task force. we have been engaged in receiving inquiries on missing u.s. citizens, tabulating those, sending that information out to our consular field team. we do have at present, we have

field teams at both airports in the tokyo area, as well as in the north in the affected areas. >> with respect to the 50 mile exclusion zone around fukushima daiichi plant, we have notified through our web site, the rationale for the 50 mile zone. we have also posted to another website -- travel.state.gov -- many people in the affected area are able to leave under their own power, their personal vehicles, buses, or trains. we are focusing our rescue efforts, providing a charter buses in the areas further north where there is much more devastation and transportation

challenges are much more present. >> do you have any information on americans inside that zone? >> i cannot answer that specifically. i would be surprised if we do not. we have thousands of names reported to us of americans who reside in japan. it would be hard to believe that some of them do not live within that zone. in terms of assistance, at this point, it has been are merely providing the information. and more specifically, providing information on available transportation. we have not felt it necessary to lane on u.s. -- lay on u.s. government transportation, because we believe the local transportation is proved adequate. >> will you look for governments in that area? >> not in the 50 mile area. their efforts are focused in sendai. we had one in ibarachi.

those are the areas received most of the devastation pe. >> we have the contact numbers and the email address behind you on the screen. we encourage people to register those who are in japan through our smart traveler enrollment program. friends and family can input data on missing loved ones through travel.state.gov and upload photographs appeared. >> regarding a charter flight that should come in tomorrow, is there any time on what that would lead to and from where? >> it's probably tokyo narida. that information goes on the web site as part of the notice.

other information goes out depending upon the vagaries of the aviation industry. that information is posted by the embassy and is also available to anyone who would call in to find out. >> the authorized departure only cover dependents, and why it did not include non emergency personnel? >> both the state and defense departments are working full-out in support of our japanese ally in assisting them in dealing with the major crisis that they face. at the moment, it is our determination that all state department personnel, and i believe i have had some conversations with the pentagon, but you can address it to them, that they have determined that all employees, service members in this case, constitute an

neededncy cadre who are to carry out the national security and the military missions they are engaged in. >> which radiation readings is the united states using? are those the ones provided by the government or are they independently gathered measurements? >> both and, but any details of that should be addressed to the department of energy. both our own readings and others provided to was. >> is there a discrepancy between those readings? >> that is a question you'll have to ask the department of energy. they -- both doe and the nuclear regulatory commission have dispatch personnel who are operating of the u.s. embassy facility and in conjunction with our military. >> how many -- there are still

no american citizens that you know of that have been killed in the aftermath? >> that is correct. to date, we have no reports, no information of confirmed dead american citizen. >> if i could add one thing to that. in order to be a force multiplier, my consulear colleagues are partner with the british, the canadians, the austrians. each one of our nation's has teams out there. there is a mutual assistance pact. if the australians ran across an american citizen in distress, they would report back to us. if one of our teams ran across a canadian in distress, we would report back to the government of canada. in addition to all the personnel we have, we have extended our network and our reach by arrangements with those

countries. that gives us a broader perspective and a broader ability to potentially find americans who need assistance. that is an impossible question to answer for this reason. we have no trouble controls in the united states. there is no requirement that an american citizen register at the american embassy. the bureau of consular affairs has numbers, web sites, the ability to self-register without eating going near the american embassy. in the old days, you had to fill out a card. there is no requirement to do that. your question relates says, a minus b equals c. i don't know what "a" is. "b" is you can leave on your own. i don't have any idea what "c" is. >> as long as we are asking

questions you may not have an answer for, is there any kind of a rough estimate for how many americans are in japan right now and how many may need help getting out in the coming days? >> i see numbers at 90,000 in tokyo, 350,000 in country. starting at about noon or 2:00 yesterday, when he announced that there would be a plane in the evening and we got a handful of americans occurred we are sending at least one if not two planes tomorrow. we will do the same thing at narida to assist. we don't have a number. you don't have to register with us like you have to make a reservation with a commercial airline. we are there to assist, but we do not require you to do that in advance. jim, do you want to add anything to that?

is the under sectorretary correct on numbers. the number of americans that visit and live in japan is quite large. in terms of the missing, even that number is difficult to derive. often there are duplicate inquiries. the task force spent a lot of effort scrubbing those lists, reaching out again, contacting inquiries and finding out if there are duplicated. s. as time goes by and we learn there are individuals from whom no one has heard, we focus on those individuals. our teams on the ground are going to specific addresses to see if the building is still standing or if anyone knows the whereabouts of the missing individual. >> is that a pre-quake number? >> yes.

>> the number was half that amount over the weekend -- 160,000. >> these are best guesstimates. i am not saying 190,000. >> moreover, those will be residents, americans residing in japan. there is a much larger number of americans in any given year that visit japan. >> will -- a steamer will leave japan tomorrow? can you confirm? >> that is something that you have to ask the agency for international development. they manage the process. >> there is some skepticism among japanese and americans that they are not getting full information from japanese authorities. i was wondering what you think, as an experienced diplomat. do you feel confident you are getting the information you need and could you paint a picture

of the diplomatic relations between the u.s. and japan right now? >> the diplomatic relations are very, very strong. the president has spoken with the prime minister. our ambassador speaks to the foreign minister and senior, other japanese government officials. our military's continued to work with the japanese self-defense forces. our technical experts are working with tokyo electric power. so the relationship is solid. there is information being exchanged all the time. you can never have enough information in a situation like this, but there is an ongoing and very, very positive relationship. >> could i get a clarification? people who were standing by to bus out of the north, who are those people? >> the people are americans who

are residents or happen to be tourists there at that time, who were in the sendai and the prefectures in the north. >> but not u.s. government personnel. >> no. you have to go all the way north to the mesawa airbase. the next u.s. official presence is on the next aisle and in the chain up. >> for the charter flights for today and tomorrow, are they all going to tapei or korea or china? >> we are going to leave the last few minutes from this briefing from the state department with a reminder that you can watch it on line. we are taking you to the united nations in new york. they are expected to approve an

authorization authorizing a no- fly zone over libya. pro-gaddafi have launched air raids on beghazi. they are just getting underway. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

[no audio]

[no audio] >> we are waiting for the start of the united nations security

council meeting expecting the security council to approve a resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over libya. you just saw the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice, and duc king out of the room. a reporter from the "the washington post" says that this authorizes of them to take "all necessary measures," to protect citizens in libya. its european actors say that enforcement could take place within hours. forces loyal to leader gaddafi advancing towards benghazi. we expect the security council to get underway momentarily. live coverage here on c-span.

[gavel pounds]

>> speaking foreign language] [gavel pounds] >> [speaking foreign language]

>> i wish to welcome the presence at this meeting of the deputy secretary general, her excellency magirro. i would like to first congratulate his excellency on his assumption of the office of minister for foreign affairs of france. as president of the council, i would like to extend a warm welcome to adam jupe for his participation in today's meeting. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> the vote on the draft resolution before us. i shall now give the floor to those members who wish to make statements before the vote. i now give the floor to his excellency, mr. alan jupe. >> [speaking french] >> allow me first to thank you for your warm words of welcome. madam deputy secretary-general, ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen, the world is living one of its great revolutions

that changes the course of history in north africa. the persian gulf, the arab people are calling to breed of liberty and democracy. in tunisia with the jasmine revolution and in egypt as well, we see a democratic revolution taking on with a great spirit of maturity. king muhammad vi announced a constitutional monarchy. this new era of springtime is for all of us, i am certain, good news a. our interest calls us to accompany not to teach lessons or give models but to help each person to build their own

future. in libya, the people's will has been shot down to its feeet by colonel gaddafi who is attacking his own people. it is for this reason that the secretary, the security council, on behalf of the human rights council, suspended libya. it was determined that the systematic and widespread attacks committed against the population constitute crimes against humanity. i believe adopted unanimously, it is recalled that the libyan authorities have the responsibility to protect the libyan people. it is also demanded that there be an immediate end -- an immediate end be brought to the violence. it is hoped the violators will

be brought to become icc. and colonel gaddafi and his associates be sanctioned and an arms embargo be enforced. violence against the civilian population has been redoubled. the international community has reacted in unanimity. the european union has done so -- the european union council, the g-8 in paris, the international community speaking with force, and i am thinking about the arab league and their march 12 resolution has called upon the security council for the creation of a no-fly zone. theuld like to hail commitment of the african union. as i speak to you now, colonel

are continuingps their violent reconquest of territory that was liberated. we cannot abandon the civilian population and victims too brutal repression. it is for this reason that france has wanted to contribute with all of its strength, together with the international community, working with great britain, the united states, and others in the drafting of this draft resolution that is being submitted with this -- with this resolution, which call for the means to protect the libyan population, establishing the no-fly zone, authorizing them to take the measures necessary for the implementation thereof. also, these states are authorized to take all measures

necessary to protect civilians and territory, to include benghazi. it is under the threat of attack by colonel gaddafi. strengthening the sanctions adopted against the reason with the implementation of an arms embargo, the asset freeze of tripoli authorities, and the interdiction to fly of libyan aircraft. france calls for all members to adopt this resolution. if voted in, we are willing and ready to act together with other members, including the arab membmers. -- members. we have very little time left. it is a matter of days. it is perhaps a number of hours. every day, every hour, we see the closing of the clamp on the civilians and the population of benghazi. thatday, each hoouur

passes raises the weight on our shoulder. the security council should make sure that law and democracy continue and that democracy prevails. thank you. >> i thank the minister for his statement. i would like to know if there are any members of the council that was to make a statement before the vote. my understanding is that i shall now put the draft resolution to the votes now. those in favor of the draft resolution, contained in documents 2011-142, please raisse their hand.

[speaking chinese] please put down your hand. those against, please raise your hand. abstentions, please raise your hand. please put down your hand.

the results of the voting is as follows. 10 votes in favor. 0 vote against. 5 abstentions. the resolution is adopted as s/1973-2011. i shall now give the floor to those members who wish to make statements after the vote. i first give the floor to the representative of lebanon.

>> thank you very much, president. we have witnessed the very rapidly unfolding events and the great suffering, which has struck libya today, this brotherly country, which suffers from x of violence and the use of heavy weaponry as well as aviation against a large swath of the population. hundreds of victims have died and we have witnessed the displacement of thousands of libyan citizens. faced with these risks, this great danger, a council has not remained on the sidelines. we have adopted resolution 1970 which demanded an immediate ensati cessation of all acts of

violence. the situation in libya was transferred to the icc, given the great danger of these crimes. the general assembly decided to suspend the participation of libya in the human-rights council appeared however, the regime of colonel gaddafi disregarded the wishes and yearnings of his people. and the resolutions. let anon launched on call to the security council on the basis -- lebanon launched a call to the security council on the basis -- dated march 12, 2011 -- and this stipulates the security council must assume its responsibilities faced with the situation in libya and to take necessary measures to impose a no-fly

zone. and to establish safe areas, especially in those areas which are being struck by this aviation, to take measures to guarantee the protection of the libyan people and all foreign citizens. our resolution here today takes into account the calls by the people of libya and the demands of the leak of arab states to see an end put to the atrocious crimes carried out by libyan authorities against its people. these authorities have lost all their legitimacy. and our resolution is aimed at protecting the libyan civilians. and we underscore the fact that

this resolution will not have as its consequence the occupation of even an inch of libyan territory. within this framework, i was like to state the following elements. it is quite clear that what anon, which led to the atrocities of the be -re are- -- lebanon would never advocate the use of force or back war in any country, especially in libya, its brother of the country. so lebanon cherishes the hope that the resolution adopted here today will play a deterrent role, to ensure that libyan authorities moved away from the logic of a violent, violent

applied against their people. and cease all and every use of force. we would also like to reaffirm, just as we did during negotiations, which have led to the adoption of this resolution, and reaffirm the importance of the respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of libya. this must be respected fully. and lebanon reaffirms here today the importance of close cooperation between the united nations and the league of arab states pursuant to chapter 8 of the united nations charter. this is something which has been included in the resolution we just adopted. we understand that the provisions and the actions

advocated by this resolution cannot guarantee stability in libya. for this reason, we reaffirm the importance of actions undertaken to achieve a peaceful solution to the situation in libya. we back the mission of the secretary general's envoy. president, faced with these atrocities, experienced by the libyan population, faced with the loss of life, and the great risk which remains, and even if our resolution, this resolution falls beneath what we had yearned for, it remains true that this resolution is fraught with a great deal of hope for a better future for libya and its people. mr. president, i think you. -- i thank you. >> i thank you for his

statements. i now give the floor to the representative of the united kingdom. >> thank you, mr. president. the situation in libya is clear. the violent, a discredited regime which has lost all legitimacy is using weapons of war against civilians. ignoreds regime has resolution 1970 that is stop the violence against libyan people. it is now preparing for a violent assault on the city of 1 million people that has a history dating back 2500 years. it has begun air strikes in anticipation of what we expect to be an attack using air, land, and sea forces. gaddafi has publicly promised no mercy. we have also seen reports today

of a grotesque offer of amnesty. this, from zero regime which has advertised its determination to continue persecuting and killing those libyans to want only to take control of their own future. the international community has come together in deploring the actions of the gaddafi regime and demanding a end this violence against libyan people. international opinion has looked to the security council to act. the arab league has been clear in its demands, including for the imposition of a no-fly zone. that is why the united kingdom, in close cooperation with love hasbanon and france, pushed for the early adoption of this resolution. we welcome the fact that the council has acted swiftly in response to the appalling situation in libya and to the appeal of the arab league.

mr. president, resolution 1973 demands that colonel gaddafi implement an immediate cease- fire. it imposes a no-fly zone to prevent the region and using air power against the libyan people. -- the gaddafi regime using air power against the libyan people. it authorizes member states to take any action necessary to protect libyan citizens. it rolls out of foreign occupation force of any form on any part of libyan territory. it imposes a range of additional measures, including significant action to tighten enforcement of the arms embargo and to deny the regime access to funds. we, along with partners in the arab world and nato, are now ready to stroll there are responsibilities in implementing resolution 1973. mr. president, the central

purpose is clear -- to end the violence, to protect civilians, and to allow the people of libya to determine their own future free from the tyranny of the gaddafi reime. gime. the libyan population want the same rights and freedoms that people across the middle east and north africa are demanding and that are enshrined in the values of the united nations charter. today's resolution puts the weight of the security council squarely behind the libyan people in defense of those values. thank you. >> i thank the permanent representative of the united kingdom. i now give the floor to the permanent representative of russia. >> germany. >> thank you, mr. president. we have gathered today to address the serious situation in

libya. our intention is to stop the violence in the country and to send clear messages to gaddafi that their time is over. gaddafi must relinquish power immediately. his regime has lost all legitimacy and can no longer be an interlocutor for us. libya is undergoing major political changes. aspirations for democracy, human and individual rights merit our full support. they offer unique opportunities for political, social, and economic transportation. to achieve this goal we seek close cooperation with our partners in the region, in particular, the arab league and the african union. our aim is to promote the political transformation of libya. we see the need to stop the

violence and to start a true political process. the basis for democracy and the rule of law and libya needs to be established and brought in. in this process, the people of libya who have so clearly expressed their aspirations for freedom and democracy, and need to succeed. with this aim in mind, we regard the intra national council as an important interlocutor. mr. president, we welcome the secretary general's appointment of the special envoy for libya. his mission merits our respect and our full support. we are particularly concerned by the plight of the libyan people and the widespread and systematic attacks they suffer from. it is therefore crucial that we tightened dissension against the gaddafi regime even more. we need to cut it off from the

financial means that have helped it to remain in power. in our view, strong sanctions backed by the whole international community will be an effective way to ending the rule of gaddafi and thereby initiating the necessary political transition. we have contributed a number of proposals in this regard. germany thus fully supports the package of economic and financial sanctions in the resolution just adopted. mr. president, decisions on the use of military force are always extremely difficult to take. we are -- we have very carefully consider the options of using military force as well as its limitations. we see great risks. the likelihood of large scale loss of life should not be underestimated.

the steps -- if the steps proposed turn out to be an effective, we see the danger of being drawn into a protracted military conflict that would affect the wider region. we should not enter a military confrontation on the assumption that quick results with few casualties will be achieved. germany, therefore, has decided not to support a military option as foreseen particularly in paragraph 4 and 8 of this resolution. furthermore, germany will not contribute to such a military effort with its own forces. germany has therefore decided to abstain. thank you, mr. president. >> i thank the permanent representative of germany. i now give the floor to the permanent representative of the united states of america. >> today, the security council

has responded to the libyan people's cry for help. the purpose is clear -- to protect innocent civilians. on february 26, acting under chapter 7, this security council demanded a halt to the violence in libya and enabled genuine accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity by referring the situation it to the international criminal court. we adopted strong sanctions that target libya's leadership. we have also strongly supported all aspects of u.n. special mandate.voy's but colonel gaddafi continue to grossly and systematically abused the most fundamental human rights of libya's people.

on march 12, the league of arab states called on the security council to establish a no-fly zone and take other measures to protect civilians. is a's resolution powerful response to that call and to the urgent need on the ground. this resolution demands an immediate cease-fire and a complete end to violence and attacks against civilians. responding to the libyan people and to the league of arab states, the security council has authorized the use of force, including enforcement of a no- fly zone to protect civilians and civilian areas targeted by colonel gaddafi, his intelligence and security forces and his mercenaries. this resolution also strengthens

enforcement of the arms embargo and bans all international flights by libyan-owned or operated aircraft. it freezes the assets of seven more individuals and five entities, including keey state-owned libyan companies. the resolution empowers the libyan sanctions committee to impose sanctions on those who violate the arms embargo, including by providing gaddafi with mercenaries. finally, the council established a panel of experts to monitor a hand-in-hand short and long term implementation of the sanctions on libya. the future of libya should be decided by the people of libya. the united states stands with the libyan people in support of their universal rights.

thank you, mr. president. >> i thank the permanent representative of the u.s. for her statement. i give it to the floor to the deputy permanent representative of india. >> mr. president, india has been following with serious concern the developments in libya which have led to the loss of numerous lives and injuries to many more we are very concerned with the welfare of the civilian population and of the foreigners in libya. we deplore the use of force. this is totally unacceptable and must not be resorted to. mr. president, the u.n. secretary general has appointed a special envoy who has just did visited libya. we have not had the benefit of his report or even a report from the secretary. this would have given us an

objective analysis of the situation on the ground. the african union is also sending a high-level panel to libya to make serious efforts for a peaceful end to the crisis there. we must stress the importance of political efforts, including those of the secretary general's envoy to address the situation. mr. president, the council has today adopted a resolution that authorizes far reaching measures under chapter 7 of the un charter, with relatively little credible information on the situation on the ground in libya. we also do not have clarity about details of enforcement measures including who and with what assets will participate, and how these measures will be exactly carried out. it is very important that there is full respect for sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of libya. mr. president, the financial

measures that are proposed in the resolution could impact directly or through indirect routes ongoing trade and investment activities of a number of member states. thereby adversely affecting the economic interests of the libyan people and others dependent on these trade and economic ties. moreover, we have to insure that the measures will mitigate and not exacerbate an already difficult situation for the people of libya. clarity in the resolution on any spillover affect for these measures would have been very important. mr. president, we have abstained on the resolution in view of the above. i would like to read-emphasize that india continues to be greatly concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in libya and called on the libyan authorities to cease fire, protect the civilian population, and address the legitimate demands of the libyan people. thank you, sir. >> i thank the deputy permanent

representative of india. i now give the floor to the permanent representatives of brazil. >> mr. president, brazil is deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation in libya. we stand behind the strong measures method of resolution 1970, adopted by this council. brazil has publicly condemned the use of violence by libyan authorities against unarmed demonstrators and calls on them to oppose and protect a right of free expression of the protesters and to seek a solution to the crisis through meaningful dialogue. our vote should in no way be interpreted as condoning the behavior of the libyan authorities or as disregard for the need to protect civilians and respect their rights. brazil stand in solidarity with all movements in the region,

expressing a legitimate demands for better governance, more political participation, economic opportunities and social justice. we condemn the libyan authorities and disrespect for their obligation under the international community and law. we also take into account the arab league's call for strong measures to stop the violence through a no-fly zone we are sensitive to their call and understand and share their concerns. it is our view that the text of the resolution before us contemplates measures that go much beyond such calls. we are not convinced that the use of force as provided for in paragraph 4 will lead to the realization of our common objectives. we need an end to violence. we are also concerned that such measures may have the unintended effect of exacerbating tensions on the ground and causing more

harm than good to be very same civilians we are committed to protecting. many thoughtful commentators have noted that an important aspect of the popular movement in north africa and the middle east is there homegrown nature. we are also concerned at the possibility that the use of military force as called for in paragraph four of today's resolution could change that narrative in ways that may have serious repercussions for the situation in libya and beyond. protecting civilians, ensuring a lasting settlement, and addressing the legitimate demands of the libyan people requires diplomacy and dialogue. with -- we support the efforts being made in this regard by the special envoy and by the african union. we also welcome the inclusion in today's resolution of operative

paragraphs are demanding an immediate cease-fire and a complete end to violence. and all attacks against civilians. and stressing the need to intensify assets it conducive to political reforms and necessary for a peaceful and a sustainable solution. we hope these efforts will proceed and to succeed. thank you, mr. president . >> i thank the permanent representative from brazil. i give the floor to the permanent representative of bosnia and hercegovina. >> at the outset, let me reiterate our great concern regarding the rapidly deteriorating situation in libya. he lives must be protected and human rights and humanitarian law must be observed. the need for humanitarian assistance to libyans is a matter of urgency. therefore, enabling the

unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid delivery is a prerogative. bosnia's supports -- searching for an end to the libyan crisis. mr. president, by falling upporting -- by fully libya's sovereignty and territorial integrity, bosnia calls for an immediate stop of all military and violent acts against the libyan people. we strongly believe that this resolution is for the benefit of the libyan people and the aspirations towards peace and democracy. thank you, mr. president. >> i thank the permanent

representative of bosnia- herzegovina. i give the floor to the permanent representative of columbia. >> thank you very much, mr. president. i would like to begin by thanking you. thank you for the impartial and efficient way with which you have conducted our debate under difficult and pressing circumstances. i should also like to recognize the contribution, as a member of the council, but also a member of the arab league and spokesperson for the arab league. i am referring to the delegation of lebanon. colombia has voted for this resolution and has done so because it is convinced that the purpose is essentially humanitarian and conducive to bringing about conditions that will allow protection of civilian populations from the atrocities of the regime that has lost all legitimacy. we have not voted for an indiscriminate use of force, nor

in favor of the occupation of the state. we have voted in favor of measures that seek to protect civilian populations from imminent attacks, from a government that with acts and statements have shown that it has not, up to the responsibility of the -- held to it by the international community to protect its population. . .

>> adopted by the security council nr seven. in resolution 1970, the council unanimously decided it will maintain this matter under review and that it is willing to consider the strengthening of sanctions once there should be persistent breach by libya and in the opinion of my delegation, this is what we have adopted today. my delegation is clear that the authorities in libya have had time sufficient to adhere to resolution 1970 and particularly the call for an immediate stop to violence. with this breach, the council has the pressing need to act. it has decided that the best way to increase the pressure on

the gaddafi regime under the current circumstances is by the way of creating an establishment of a no-fly zone as requested by the member states of the arab league. colombia shares the opinions of the delegations that have assured or suggested that perhaps even more important than the establishment of a no-fly zone is the implementation of the same and enforcement of the same. it is for this reason that we have supported the inclusion of language that grants clear authorization to the states to use all means necessary to enforce the banning of flights mentioned within the terms of this resolution. without this authorization, the no-fly zone would be an illusion. also important are the decisions we have made to strengthen the asset freezing of individuals and entities tied to the regime, mr. president of colombia is convinced that in the case of libya, all of the conditions are present for the council to act under chapter seven and to

take additional measures to the sanctions adopted previously. we are facing a situation that clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security and that further has already brought a high cost of human lives. we have effectively responded to an express request by a regional organization, the arab league, that to its great credit instead of acting on its own has gone to the council to call for the council to act in its authority vested in it by the charter. we believe that we are acting within the charter and the principles of international law. thank you very much, mr. president. >> i thank the permanent representative of colombia for his statement. now i give the floor to the permanent representative of the russian federation. >> thank you very much, mr. president. the russian federation abstains

on the submitted draft resolution of libya based on a number of considerations of principal. opposition regarding the clear and acceptability of the use of force against a civilian population of libya remains unchanged and the attacks against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law and human rights must immediately and unconditionally cease. we base ourselves on the expectation that relevant requirements contained in the unanimously adopted security resolution 1970 must be rapidly and fully fulfilled by the libyan authorities. this hasn't happened yet. therefore, in such a situation, the league of arab states turned to the security council with the request to undertake immediate measures to ensure the protection of the seven population of libya including the establishment of a no-fly zone in libyan air space.

this request enjoyed our full attention. we participated actively in the discussions on the draft resolution. unfortunately, work on this document was not in keeping with the security council standing practice. in essence, a whole range of questions raised by the russian federation and other security councilmembers remained unanswered, questions which were both concrete and legitimate, questions regarding how the no-fly zone would be enforced, what the rules of engagement would be, and limits to the use of force would be. further more, the draft was more of -- morfhing before our minds. introduced were provisions opening the door to large-scale military intervention. through the negotiations of the draft statements, cleaning and absence of any such intentions were heard, we take note of these. i underscore yet again, we are

consistent, firm advocates of the protection of the civilian population, guided by this basic principal as well by the common humanitarian values which we share with both the co-sponsors and the other security councilmembers, russia did not prevent the adoption of this resolution. however, we are convinced that the quickest way to ensure robust security for the civilian population is an immediate cease-fire. this specifically was the aim of our draft security council resolution submitted on march 16, which backed relevant efforts by the secretary-general special envoy, by the human rights council and the african union and underscored the necessity of a peaceful settlement of the situation in libya. the russian federation subjected a proposal without any delay thus saving numerous human lives. we enjoy the support of a number of security councilmembers and we are grateful to them. however, the passion of some

security councilmembers for designs involving force prevailed. this is most unfortunately and regrettable. responsibility for the inevitable humanitarian consequences of the excessive use of outside force in libya will fall fair and square on the shoulders of those who might undertake such action. if this comes to pass, then not only the civilian population of libya, but also the calls of upholding peace and security throughout the hole region of north africa and the middle east will suffer. there is a need to avoid such destabilizing developments. mr. president, i thank you. >> i thank the representative of the russian federation and i'll give the floor to the permanent representative of portugal. >> i thank you, mr. president. since the outset of the libyan popular uprising, they have consistently condemned the

discriminate violence against griffins, the gross and systematic violation of human rights and law perpetrated by a regime that has lost all of its credibility and legitimacy, vis-a-vis its own population and international community. we have appealed for the cessation of all violence and for the establishment of an immediate cease-fire as well as for the full protection of civilians and foreign residents in libya and their right to leave the country without hindrance and in safe conditions. we have alerted to the plight of thousands and thousands refugees forced to the violence and to give them all humanitarian assistance possible. due to these reasons, we ventured with the other members of the counsel for resolution of 1970 which was adopted unanimously. nevertheless, the authorities in tripoli took no note of this resolution and have failed totally to abide by it. on the contrary, since february 26, violence has escalated as have the crimes committed

against the libyan population. civilians have been bombarded from land and air. the council has urged for a national dialogue that would enable the libyan population to fulfill its legitimate aspirations to build a democratic, modern state based on the institutions that will represent them effectively. for the international community, the regime that has ruled libya for over 40 years has come to an end by the will of the libyan people. it has to be fundamentally reformed through peaceful process. mr. president, today we voted for this resolution because we believe that it fulfills these essential objectives. to establish an immediate cease-fire, to put an end to violation, to protect civilians, to allow for unimpeded humanitarian aid, and to lead to a national dialogue among the libyans conducive to the establishment of a

democratic state and guaranteed a sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of the country as desired by the libyan people. in this context, we fully support the mission entrusted by the secretary-general and his efforts to find a sustainable and peaceful solution to this crisis. as we support the efforts of the arab league and the african union in the same sense. i thank you very much, sir. >> i thank the permanent representative of portugal for his statement. now i give the floor to the representative, permanent representative of any way jeeria -- nigeria. >> mr. president, the resolution just adopted was necessitated by the persistent ly bad situation in libya. notwithstanding the clear expression of our common will and the comprehensive measures instituted on the resolution

1970, the libyan authorities have continued to violate the terms of the resolution and fundamental principals of international law. the current set of affairs leaves an indelible imprint on the conscience. the magnitude of this humanitarian disaster is indeed what compares nigeria to vote for this resolution. the persistent calls of peace are rooted in the need to ensure the dignity and availability of humanitarian assistance for a population in need, many of whom are nigerian nationals. the emphasis of the resolution on the protection of civilians under threat of attack and the provisions for humanitarian assistance do much to address these concerns. the league of arab states and

the african union have spoken with one voice in condemnation of the situation in libya, and rightly so as the crisis is one of regional import. as a member of the security council and a member of the african union, nigeria maintains that foreign occupation is not an option to secure peace in libya. we acknowledge the language in resolution 1973 that specifically casts out that possibility constraining the actions of states seeking to play a role in the quest for peace. moreover, we are guided by an overriding determination to respect the unity and the total integrity of libya. we are also encouraged by the fact that the political path to conflict resolution is supported in the resolution

underscoring as it does the efforts of the african union high level committee, the secretary-general special envoy . to day we have sent an unequivocal message to the libyan people that the dignity of every man, woman, and child is paramount. it is important that when civilians in grave danger cry out, the international community undaunted is ready to respond. i thank you. >> i thank the permanent representative of nigeria for her intervention. now i give the floor to the permanent representative of south africa. >> south frack is deeply considered about the political situation in libya which is fast becoming a full-blown civil war. it is our hope that it will be

in accordance with the libyan people. a political solution must be found. political reform, justice, human rights as well as social economic needs for the people of libya in order to ensure long-term peace. this must prevail if the unity, sovereignty of libya. it is in this context that it ask for the suringt council to dispatch a committee to libya to find a political solution to the crisis in libya in the best interest of these peoples. we ask this committee to work closely with the special envoy and the league of arab states in coordinating such solution in this regard.

in adopting resolution 1970, the security council had hoped that the libyan authorities would act responsibly and stop committing more acts of violence against their own people. the authorities have deified this resolution and have continued to kill and displace numerous civilians while continuing to violate their human rights. with the league of the united nations and the security council could not be silent, not be doing nothing in the face of such grave acts of violence being committed against innocent civilians. mr. president, we believe that by adopting this resolution 1973, south africa has voted in favor. the security council has voted appropriately with the conduct in the region, to strengthen the resolution of 1970 and has acted responsibly to protect and save the lives of civilians who are faced with violence carried out by the libyan thorts.

we believe that the establishment of the measures including a cease-fire and no-fly zone. this constitutes an important element for the protection of civilians and the safety of the delivery of humanitarian to those desperately in need. with have the necessary caveats, to preserve the southernty and integrity of libya and no foreign occupation under the pretext of protection of civilians. it is our hope that this resolution will be implemented in full respect in both letter and spirit. it stands with the decision to respect the unity and territory of libya as well its rejection for any foreign military

intervention. in conclusion, mr. president, south africa will continue to work through this council, the african union and platforms to speed resolution of the libyan crisis in a manner of the libyan people. i thank you, mr. president. >> i thank the permanent representative of south africa for his statement. i shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of china. the continues worsening of the situation in libya has the great concern of china. we support the security council's adoption of appropriate and necessary action to stabilize as soon as possible the situation in libya and to halt acts of violence against civilians. china has always emphasized

that in these actions, the security council should follow the u.n. charter and international law and respect the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territory integrity of libya and resolve through peaceful means the current crisis in libya. china is always against the use of force in international relations. in the security council's consultations on resolution 1973 we and some other councilmembers asked some specific questions. however, regrettably, many of those questions failed to be clarified or answered. china has serious difficulty with part of the resolution. meanwhile, china attaches great importance to the relevant

position by the 22-member arab league on the establishment of a no-fly zone over libya. we also attach great importance to the position of the african countries and the african union. in view of this and considering the special circumstances surrounding the situation in libya, china abstained during the vote on the resolution, resolution 1973. we support the secretary-general special envoy for libya and the african union and the arab league in their continuing efforts to address by a peaceful means the current crisis in libya. i resume my function as president of the council. there are no more speakers inscribed on my list. the security council has thus

concluded the present stage of this consideration of the item on this agenda. the security council will remain ceased of the matter. the meeting is adjourned. >> and a look live at the united nations in new york where the u.n. security council just approved a no-fly zone over libya and authorized "all necessary measures to protect civilians from attacks by muammar gaddafi's forces." the action came as the libyan leader was poised to make a final push against rebels holding out in benghazi, the second largest city, that's the way the associated press is

reporting it. the vote in the 15-member council was 10-0 with five abstentions including russia and china. on friday, secretary of state hillary clinton will discuss u.s. relations with south and central america. the president is leaving on a five-day south and central american trip on friday. secretary of state is addressing an audience at the center for strategic and international studies. that's live tomorrow starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. and tomorrow morning, the national journal and the museum host a conversation with general david petraeus, commander of forces in afghanistan. that's live at 9:00 a.m. eastern on our companion network, c-span 2. >> the president and the administration believes that we have to be looking very, very closely at the events in japan. as we said before, we have to apply whatever lessons that can

be and will be learned. >> energy secretary steven chu chue testifying on the energy department's fiscal year 2012 budget and nuclear power safety issues following the earthquake and tsunami in japan. watch the complete hearing now online at the c-span video library. seven, watch, clip, and share. it's washington your way. the head of the nuclear regulatory commission told white house reporters today that basic science indicates that the nuclear plant crisis in japan will not effect u.s. air quality, no matter what happens. his comments came at the daily white house briefing with press secretary jake carney. it was also talked about continuing u.s. efforts to contain the crisis on the ground in japan. this is 30 minutes.

>> happy st. patrick's day, everyone. a lot of green out there i appreciate that as a carney. i would just start by saying i assume you all got the advisory that the president will have a statement this afternoon. i have, again, brought today some of our experts who can discuss the situation in japan and more specifically our, what this administration, this government is doing to help the japanese in dealing with that situation and what the implications are for american citizens, so i will turn this over to them very briefly and actually in a minute. i just want to, again, say that if they could make their quick opening statements and to take questions from you on the subject area that concerns them so that they can then depart, i will stay and take questions on other issues.

i have just to remind you, the chairman of the regularly commission, and on my near right, the deputy secretary of energy. i will turn it over to them, greg, start way statement and we'll take questions. >> boy, this gives you a brief status update on basically three points. one, we have a team of 11 technical experts who continue to work in tokyo to provide assistance to the japanese government and to the ambassador in tokyo. yesterday the n.r.c. looked at the available information that we had. based on that information, we took a look at how we would deal with a situation similar to that in the united states. and based on that, we recommended that citizens out to about 50 miles should be evacuated. we provided that recommendation to the ambassador and he issued a statement for american citizens to that effect.

i want to stress that we think this is a prudent and a precautionary measure to take. finally, i want to reiterate that we don't see any concern from radiation levels that could be harmful here in the united states or any of the u.s. territories. so i'll turn it over to dan then. >> thank you, and good morning. we have continued working very hard in consultation with our great friends and strong allies in japan as they come to terms and wrestle with this very challenging situation. i think most of you know that our equipment that we sent over to support them in their efforts has arrived on a c-17. we sent a team of 33 additional people which were added to the six people we already had out there in japan. they had over 17,000 pounds of equipment with them. they have unpacked that. they have actually taken the two pods that do the aerial measurement of ground depositions, mounted them, one

on a fixed wing aircraft, one on a helicopter and we flew those aircraft on their first missions. we have been collecting information as they have come back with the process of sharing that information with our japanese hosts and while that's still being looked at, the preliminary indications are that they are consistent with the recommendations that came down from the chairman of the nuclear regulatory commission which then the ambassador used to make the 50-mile evacuation guidelines. so the indications are that that looks like it was a prudent move. other countries around the world all continue to do what they can to support the japanese as they lead this effort to address this challenge. we have had a number of consultations. i have personally been in contact with my counterparts in france and russia. all of us are thinking about ways in which we can assist the

japanese as they come to terms with this challenge. that's going to continue to be our focus in the days and weeks ahead. we're going to continue to work very closely with the japanese and come to do what we can to see a safe path through this in support of japanese-led efforts to come to terms with this very dangerous situation. >> we begin with questions, dan. >> two questions. first for the chairman. when you talk about the 50-mile recommendation of yesterday being based on the best available information, can you tell us where exactly the united states is getting its information and whether it is, would you consider it to be hard facts or best guesses? >> well, we have, as i said, we have a team of 11, of some of our best technical experts in tokyo and they're working with counterparts from the utility in tokyo as well as other individuals with the government. so that's one of the sources

we're collecting data from as many places as we can to make the best judgments we can with the information available. but i would stress that this is a very difficult situation. there is often conflicting information and so we made what we thought was a prudent decision. >> how would you characterize your accuracy? >> i think the team we have in place is providing us with good and reliable information. we continue to do what we can to support the people of japan and to provide assistance and recommendations where we can. this is a very difficult situation and there will be a lot of work continuing as we go forward to deal with continuing to cool the reactors and to provide cooling to the spent fuel pool. as we continue forward, we'll continue that dialogue. >> what is your assessment as you stand here today about where this is headed? best case scenario, worst case scenario? >> i don't want to speculate on where this could go.

there is tremendous efforts right now to continue to provide cooling to the reactors and continue to provide cooling to the spent fuel pool. we are continuing to provide assistance with ideas on how to address that and if necessary, provide equipment and other means. yes. >> a follow-up on the initial question about what level of faith the u.s. government has in how the japanese are handling the crisis? is the administration satisfied with or not how japan is handling it and how would you categoryize the level of information being trieded by the japanese authorities? >> i'm the head of the regulatory agency. i would defer those questions to the others. i would say, again, our efforts are rg working to help the japanese people deal with what is a very difficult and really tragic situation. that's where we're going to continue to focus and see what we can do to provide them with any assistance we can.

>> can i just comment on that? you know americans, we always want more information and we are constantly trying to find out whatever we can. as the chairman said, the facts on the ground are genuinely complex. they're genuinely confusing. we have had a dialogue. we have our two experts that are already out in japan. they have been engaging directly with the japanese. we have had, as recently as yesterday, senior level officials from the nuclear industrial security agency in japan in direct consultation with us. we're going to maintain that dialogue and do whatever we can in support of their efforts to get this situation under control. >> you said there is no concern here do misscally that the raid -- domestically, that the radiation will be harmful. aside from this disaster, what

else is being done to get an accurate measurement that none of this will impact the united states? >> again, i probably turn to dan to answer that question. we're really focused, again, first and foremost on making sure the plants in this country are safe and then continuing to provide assistance to the japanese with their efforts on dealing with the crisis there. >> in addition to the regular measurements that are taken, have you beefed up that effort to check the quality of the air in the united states? >> there is a continuous effort as you well know that the e.p.a. runs to make sure we have detectors all over the country. >> in addition to that, is there anything that has been added? >> i will refer you to e.p.a. for more specifics on anything they're doing. what we have been doing to support them in that effort is to make sure that we have the people at lawrence who are working on the modeling aspect of this so when data comes in,

we have a robust capability to analyze that information. that is something we do in conjunction with noaa and others. so everything that could be done to be prepared for such time as that mechanism needs to be used has been done, but i would go back to what the chairman has he is. there is nothing that indicates at this stage that that's going to be required under the circumstances as we now understand them. >> americans shouldn't be concerned at this point? >> that's correct. >> i want to stress. i don't think there is any real disagreement here. basic physics and science tells us there can't be any risk or harm to anyone here in the united states or hawaii or any of the other territories. so that's something that we feel very comfortable with. it's really just based on the basic facts and science that's involved here. >> mr. chairman, could you tell us, three days since you stood there before, why did the situation deteriorate the way

it did? can you explain to us what happened? we have seen the pictures of the reactors. what has happened since you were here on monday? >> well, the situation continues to be very dynamic in japan. adds we looked at a lot of the available situation, we saw greater challenges i think with providing cooling to some of the spent fuel pools that had initially not been as much of an issue. that was one of the major changes that led us to re-evaluate some of our information and come up with the recommendation that we did. >> and the situation as it stands right now, the attempts today to put water in there doesn't seem to have done much? >> i would say right now, there is continued efforts to do that they are continuing to provided water into the spent fuel pools as well as providing water to the reactor core. that is what their focus has to be for some time is just to continue that activity of cooling and getting water or other means to cool the reactors in the pools. >> days or weeks? >> this is something that will

likely take sometime to work through, possibly weeks as eventually you remove the majority of the heat from the reactors and then the spent fuel pools. it's something that will be ongoing for some time. that's why, as i said, we're continuing to do everything we can to provide assistance to the japanese as they deal with the situation. >> you said that the 11 experts, the 11 american experts are in tokyo. does that mean that they are completely reliant on japanese officials and utility officials closer to the site to give them the information that they then analyze, or is there an independent way for them to get information about what is actually happening? >> they're working with counterparts from the utility and other officials there to gather information. then, of course, they're using their judgment, their communicating back here with our staff at headquarters. we're reaching out to experts in our ton to reach out. >> are they getting independent information on their own, or is

it coming to them from japan? >> the information is coming to them from sources in japan. again, this say very dynamic and the a very complicated situation in japan. they'll continue to work with their counterparts there and continue to provide recommendations to us about what we think we can do to help the japanese. >> even the prime minister of japan and certainly the japanese public have expressed great frustration with the secrecy and lack of transparency coming in particular from the utility. are you experiencing that same frustration? are your people sensing frustration getting information? >> well, they are. i think the people we have in tokyo, they are talking with experts there. they are talking with individuals from the utility. i think they're getting information that is useful to us in making the kinds of recommendations that we need to make. and our focus is really on looking at how would this situation be similar to a situation in the united states and then providing suggestions for actions we may need to take

relative to american citizens. the japanese are, as i said, they're dealing with a very significant crisis and they have a lot of efforts focused on trying to deal with the reactors, trying to deal with the situation on the ground. we have a small team there that is getting good information and we'll continue to do what we can to help. >> on the 50 miles -- go ahead. >> i might just add, that's why it's so important that we get the information that we have now sent the equipment over to collect. we have had two flights come back. we have initial data from there we have sent other detectors over there, other sampling equipment. it's not people talking to people. we have the information that will help in foreign policy. >> is that because you're frustrated you haven't gotten the information directly? >> to the contrary. >> the prime minister just blew up at a press conference over the lack of transparency? >> as i said, we americans always want more information. we're striving for that, but we want a combination of data and

things that you can get through collection and things that we can get from talking to people who are dealing with this. we're trying to do what we can to support the japanese in their efforts. it's a continuing dialogue. i'm sure it's going to continue. >> on the 50-mile issue, do you agree that it's a strange situation that you can have different citizens from different countries getting different advice on this and doesn't it need to all be one consistent standard? >> well, we have different regulatory systems throughout the world and we have different approaches to dealing with these kinds of issues. we took the available information we had and we looked at how we would deal with a similar situation here in the united states and we made the recommendation about 50 miles. >> so are american citizens who don't obey that information risking their lives? >> the recommendation is ultimately, yeah, a precautionary measure right now based on what we looked at are some of the risks and challenges going forward in this situation. so we provided the recommendation to the

ambassador. the ambassador made that recommendation and we think it's a prudent measure to take. >> you're the scientist. are people putting their safety in danger? >> as we said, we think it's a prudent measure to follow the evacuation based on how we would handle a situation like that in the united states. will they follow that prudent measure? >> mr. chairman, my understanding is that senators boxers and carper have sent a letter to you asking the n.r.c. to review the ability of american facilities to withstand different types of disasters. the other day it sounded like maybe that review wasn't necessary because we're constantly reviewing our facilities. have you seen the letter? what's your reaction? what do you think? >> well, time there is a significant event like this anywhere in the world or even something like this in the united states, we're going to take a look at what happened. we're going to do a systematic and a methodical review of the information. if we need to make changes to our program, we'll make changes

to our program. i want to emphasize and stress that we have a very robust program where we look at the safety and security of our nuclear facilities on a minute by-minute basis. and this certainly will be new information that when we have good, credible information about what happened in japan, we'll take that information and we'll work to see what changes we might need to make, if any, to our system. >> i might add from the aspect of policy. safety has always been our paramount concern and we will continue to strive to make sure that all of our energy sources keep that first and foremost. so we continue to rely on the independence of the n.r.c. and its ability to make those judgment calls as to whether it is operating safely enough, but we will not rest from our perspective at all because we'll continue to take every data we can into account and continue to improve the safety of our nuclear power and any other energy source that we are

vandaling. >> the one-two punch is a massive earthquake and a tsunami has to make people in this country concerned about whether our facilities can withstand that, right? >> i would think that we do not need to have that great stimuli to have a continued focus on safety. it goes back decades as we discussed. after three-mile island was a different kind of set of facts that we are now presented with, we went to school on that situation. we improved the way we do our regulations. we move toward a more passive design approach when it comes to cooling course and so forth and we exercise and we come up with hypotheticals and we take facts in hand as they present themselves. it's going to be a continuous effort and it's build into the principals of our organization that we're always going to look to do what we can to make sure our activities are all carried out in the safest manner possible. >> mr. secretary, in your opening statement, you said the aerial footage confirms the

chairman's recommendations and what the chairman testified to yesterday was that he thought that there was no more water, essentially, there was no more cooling mechanism. is that what you're finding in this footage? >> those are two different things. just to be clear what we sent out were these pods. the pods measured deposition of radioactive materials on the ground. so what i said was that our preliminary indications, because the data is being analyzed, it's being shared with the japanese so they can analyze it, too, suggests that the prudential measure that the chairman recommended in terms of the 50-mile radius for evacuation is consistent with what we're finding. it's not related to -- >> evidence whether this pool, he had testified yesterday that you had feared that there was no more water in this fourth reactor, in the spent fool pond, -- fuel pond, is that

correct? >> the japanese themselves have indicated that the level of water in that pond is low and is of concern and i certainly saw the chairman's testimony yesterday and we're getting whatever data we can on the situation at that pool. it doesn't change what is important, and that's the japanese as they have themselves indicated need to get more cooling water into that pool. so anything that can be done in that direction, whether it's in water cannons or water drops, that's going to be something they're focused on and of course we would do whatever we could to help them. >> two quick questions from either one of you. does the jeapeds government still have the capacity to manage this crisis on their own, or at this point has this completely overwhelmed them? >> let me make this point. the japanese government has tremendous long-standing capabilities in this area. they have responsibly been developing an integrated

nuclear industry for decades. it has always been in close cooperation, not only with other partnering countries which certainly includes the united states, but with the international atomic energy agency and international fora. they have always treated safety as a very important responsibility and certainly the indications that you have seen from the prime minister, chief cabinet secretary speaking to people show their continued commitment to that and we as our close friends and allies and as a country that is also committed to the safe development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes to build a low-carbon energy future, we're going to continue to support them in that effort. >> john. >> the statement that the n.r.c. put out yesterday, the protective action recommendations are implemented in what projected doses could be rems to the body or thyroid. how currently is they would

succeed one rem to the body and five rems to the thyroid. >> the recommendation that we made was based on the possibility of certain scenarios that haven't happened yet. we thought given the situation we were seeing that there was a possibility of the situation becoming worse and as a result, we thought it was a prudent measure to take the recommendations that we provided. >> you don't have dosing estimates per se for within that radius? >> well, we have done some very preliminary modeling just to give us an estimate as to where we think the likelihood of radiation levels around the plant would be high enough to trigger these kind of protective action recommendations. right now it's based on a serious of assumptions and assessments of what could happen which is the way that we

do our general protective recommendations in the united states. that was the way that we approached it. >> based on the question, a japanese official today said he did not know if that cooling pool has been emptied. is it still your assessment that that cooling pond with the spent fuel rods is now empty of water? >> everything when we made the determination the other day, everything indicated that that was the case. i think as has been said, there is a lot of conflicting information around this, but the bottom line is that there clearly appears to be a challenge keeping that spent fuel filled with sufficient water. so it is a very dynamic situation. again, our efforts are really focused here on helping the japanese deal with what is a very tragic and difficult situation and we'll continue to provide recommendations and expertise where we can to help. >> when the n.r.c. released the data to the public? >> we did release the data.

>> one of the questions in the letter is which u.s. nuclear power plant have similar design features with the japanese reactor facilities, do you have a tally of the plants that are, has similar design features and also is there any that you talked about potential for review but without specifically reviewing those plans with those designs or older plants? >> there are 35 so-called boiling water reactor designs in this country. 23 of those have the so-called mark one containment which is the containment which is similar to the type that is used in the facilities we're dealing with in japan. over the years, we have done studies and assessments of those particular types of reactors. actually, over several decades, actually in the late 1980's and early 1990's, changes were made to those containments to deal

with these type of very severe scenarios. so, again, when we get all the relevant data and we have good solid data about what happened in japan, we intend to take a very thorough look at what happened and what changed that we could make. i understand the president yesterday recommended that this is something the n.r.c. should look at. it's certainly something i think we will. >> at this point, you don't see the need for specifically those plants with those design features -- >> we don't really know what the most relevant information is right now from japan. we want to get that information and we want to do a systematic and a methodical look at what changes we may need to make to those types of plants or any other plants in the country. >> let's take a few more. >> i want to go back to about the plants that are similar to the plants in japan that are having problems.

what you said about the teaching mode, the once that are similar are some of the ones that you are looking at, are they along fault lines and have they been tested in any kind of way if there was a possibility of an earthquake, how would these cooling systems be able to handle shutting the nuclear reactors down? >> all of the plants in the united states are designed to deal with a wide range of natural disasters, whether it's earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, other seismic events. we require all of them to deal with those. and what we really look at, we look at historically what are the largest vinds of events that we have seen happen. we add a little bit something extra to that because we know we don't know everything. from that we design the plants to be able to withstand that kind of activity. now, as i said over the years, we have gone a little bit beyond that as well buzz we know that sometimes there are

limitations in our knowledge. we look at severe accidents which are the kinds of very catastrophic situations. the plants have made modifications that deal with these catastrophic kind of events. following september 11, the agency ordered all the nuclear power plants in this country to basically prestage equipment and materials to have procedures in place to deal with a situation very similar to what we have in japan. you have a catastrophic loss of power. you have a very catastrophic situation at the nuclear power plant. we have inspected that all of the plants have those procedures and they have that equipment in place. we think that there is a very robust program in this country to deal with those things. >> how many of these nuclear facilities are on fault lines in the united states? >> well, all of the nuclear power plants in this country are designed to deal with seismic events. we tend to think about it at the n.r.c., not in terms of

what is near the fault line, but the different types of seismic activity. in fact, every plant in the united states is designed to deal with whatever seismic activity -- >> how many are on fault lines? that's the question. i'm not trying to be funny, but it's a serious question and a concern about some of these nuclear reactors in california. >> certainly with the plants in california, they are designed to a very robust seismic standard and for the ones that are on the coast, they're also designed to deal with a very significant tsunami. in fact, after the 2004 tsunami, we took a look at the programs that we have in place to deal with the tsunamis, much as i expect we'll do here with the situation in japan. >> thank you, guys. sorry, i did say margaret. >> i wanted to quickly clarify about the new aerial measurements that came back. those came back after you made the 50-mile radius, right? >> yes. >> does that show that the japanese have underestimated

the radiation, is that what the new data has shown? >> first of all, we're analyzing the information and we're sharing it with the japanese. the preliminary look at it has indicated that the measures that have been taken have been prudent ones from all of our perspective. what we monitor from the u.s. side is the guidance that comes off the ambassador which was informed by the chairman's recommendation of a 50-mile raid yugs and -- radius and we have no reason to question those recommendations. >> the japanese earlier made an underguess? >> the preliminary indications suggest that all of the measures that have been recommended either by the governor of japan or the governor of the u.s. have been prudent and appropriate. >> today, former senate tejada kaufman, the chairman of the congressional oversight panel

testified before the senate banking committee about the final report on the tarp or troubled asset relief program. he was joined by neil barofsky, special inspector general on tarp. you can see the hearing in its entirety tonight starting at 9:40 eastern. here is a portion. >> you recently testified saying we have advocated tirelessly that treasury should fix the progress. so if we shouldn't repeal the program, how should we fix it? is one option to have treasury focus on the earlier part of the process encouraging servicers to reach out to homeowners sooner? >> i think that it is a fundamentally broken program, if it's going to be permitted to continue, it needs to stop desinneding the status quo of

the program as it continues to do and lay out a plan of how to fix the program. there are a number of good ideas out there. i think you start with something that secretary geithner has acknowledged that the very incentive structure of the program is broken. this whole program is a voluntary program that is designed by encouraging servicers to participate by making incentive payments. so it is largely a carrot program where discipline would presumably be provided by sticks and financial penalties and initially treasury announced that it would impose financial penalties on servicers for not implying the guidelines. they issued a press release in 2009. with secretary geithner saying the incentives are insufficient, not powerful enough to overcome, he said the muck, i will say conflict of interests, and failing to impose sanctions, is it all that surprising that the program has been a failure?

the place to start is let's address what secretary geithner acknowledged was a problem, incentive structure and the lack of financial penalties on servicers whose performance that secretary geithner have acknowledged are abysmal under the program. that's a starting point. they need to be far more transparent. those seeking to defend the existence of the program, one of the most basic pieces of information that i think that you need to have is what is treasury's projection of how many people it's going to help through permanent modifications over the life of the program. i have been calling for this more than a year. g.a.o. has been calling this for more than a year. members of congress have been doing that. congressional oversight panel wants to give its own analysis of $700,000. c.b.o. has provided an estimate, moody's has provided an estimate.

they won't. those criticizing have ever right to conclude that the reason they won't provide a number is that their internal projections must be so abysmal and so terrifying that they won't provide this level of transparency, to have an informed debate, treasury needs to be transparent about its expectation, not putting out the total number of people eligible or the offers they intend to make. how many people are going to be in sustained permanent modifications. they're failure to do so is inexplicable and frankly indefensible. >> mr. mccall, do you agree that servicers should reach out to homeowners sooner and their suggestion, should treasury explore creating a single point of contact so that borrowers know who to communicate with? >> we have raised recommendations and some of them have actually been at least either implemented or

partially implemented on the front of having a treasury issue better guidance about how servicers deal with customers, how they deal with complaints. there is improvement, but work to be done. to echo the point, what we have been pushing for from the very beginning is performance standards and the particular performance standards for the servicers that we think the treasury needs to come up with performance standards, hold the servicers accountable to those standards and until they do that, again, we think some of the problems are going to continue to fester. >> what's your response to these suggestions? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd be happy to respond. first, on the issue of performance standards, that's precisely what we have done. let's remember, first of all, this is a crisis that was a decade in the making and for two years nothing was done.

when we launched this program, no modifications were occurring. we launched the program on a voluntary basis. it had to be that way under the law. in terms of performance standards, we have forced the servicers to do a lot of things they simply weren't doing. those include a whole range of protections, like on dual track, for example, the practice where servicers were discussing a modification or considering a modification at the same time as they were proceeding to a foreclosure sale. we stopped that we put in other borrower protections as well. we agree there is a need for national servicing standards. this is a servicing model that was set up to collect payments on performing loans. it was not equipped to deal with this crisis. far more is needed than this program to fix that the regulators are paying attention to it. the conservator of the g.s.e.'s is paying attention to it. i think we will see that. secondly, in terms of estimates, it's very difficult to make estimates as to how

many we will ultimately serve, but the facts are that the costs of this program are directly related to how many we serve. it's not a matter that we will spend the same amount of money regardless. number two, we publish reams of information about this program including how many people we're reaching every month in permanent modifications, in trial modifications, how many fall out of that, how many redefault, we publish information by servicer. anybody can see how this program is doing. it's not a matter of not being able to evaluate it. it's a matter of the fact that this is a very difficult housing market to fix and this program is at least helping fix it. it's not enough, but it needs to be continued so that we can llions of american families. >> senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first of all, i want to thank you for a great job you have